Hello,
I would appreciate some advice on some mould I have noticed on a couple of floor joists on the 1st floor.
Photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/dgorissen/Damp?authkey=Gv1sRgCJSr1Zaq2PClqgE&feat=directlink
Background:
* over a period of 2 weeks we had 2 leaks relating to a poorly capped pipe after removing a radiator
* the water sprayed onto the carpet and seeped under the floorboards, over the plaster lath beneath (this is on the first floor) and down the electrical light socket into the room below.
* Its hard to guess how much water leaked into the floor, a very rough guess is 20-30 liters
* we shut everything off properly, removed all the carpet and let the room dry with (after a few days) a dehumidifier for about 1 week
Now the situation is:
* I lifted some floorboards and inspected the joists beneath
* I noticed a gray fluffy ridge of mould, running along the bottom 2-3 cm of two joists. The plaster lath between both joists also shows some grey mould.
* I also noticed, further down the room in a different part some patches of black mould near the top of a different joist (strange since I dont think water reached here)
* there is also a patch some strange dry, white foamy mould (?) in another part of the room.
* I also noticed some woodworm holes here and there
There are two joists that seem most affected. Its very well possible some of this existed prior to the leak.
On the whole the mould seems mostly on the surface as the joists themselves still look quite solid and dont feel soggy (perhaps slightly soggy in the area closest to where the leak was). But I do not trust the situation and want to be sure the mould will not spread before I put down carpet.
The dehumidifier is still running but as its a small domestic unit it may take a while to really dry things out (or maybe its simply not good enough?).
My best guess: continue drying with dehumidifier and paint with with wickes fungicidal wash where possible (though if I want to paint everything I have to pull up all floorboards, something Im not looking forward to :/).
Any thoughts as to how to best deal with this?
Many thanks,
Cheers,
Dirk
I would appreciate some advice on some mould I have noticed on a couple of floor joists on the 1st floor.
Photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/dgorissen/Damp?authkey=Gv1sRgCJSr1Zaq2PClqgE&feat=directlink
Background:
* over a period of 2 weeks we had 2 leaks relating to a poorly capped pipe after removing a radiator
* the water sprayed onto the carpet and seeped under the floorboards, over the plaster lath beneath (this is on the first floor) and down the electrical light socket into the room below.
* Its hard to guess how much water leaked into the floor, a very rough guess is 20-30 liters
* we shut everything off properly, removed all the carpet and let the room dry with (after a few days) a dehumidifier for about 1 week
Now the situation is:
* I lifted some floorboards and inspected the joists beneath
* I noticed a gray fluffy ridge of mould, running along the bottom 2-3 cm of two joists. The plaster lath between both joists also shows some grey mould.
* I also noticed, further down the room in a different part some patches of black mould near the top of a different joist (strange since I dont think water reached here)
* there is also a patch some strange dry, white foamy mould (?) in another part of the room.
* I also noticed some woodworm holes here and there
There are two joists that seem most affected. Its very well possible some of this existed prior to the leak.
On the whole the mould seems mostly on the surface as the joists themselves still look quite solid and dont feel soggy (perhaps slightly soggy in the area closest to where the leak was). But I do not trust the situation and want to be sure the mould will not spread before I put down carpet.
The dehumidifier is still running but as its a small domestic unit it may take a while to really dry things out (or maybe its simply not good enough?).
My best guess: continue drying with dehumidifier and paint with with wickes fungicidal wash where possible (though if I want to paint everything I have to pull up all floorboards, something Im not looking forward to :/).
Any thoughts as to how to best deal with this?
Many thanks,
Cheers,
Dirk
